Forum:2013-01-28 (Monday)
Discussion for comic for . ( ) ---- Ok, let me offer another mad theory, this one I'm kind of serious about. The Unstoppable Higgs is a von Mekkhan. Perhaps he is the son of Carson / father to Vanamonde believed dead in the destruction of the Castle by the Other, perhaps a relative. He's got the appropriate knowledge of Heterodyne lore, and resembles Carson physically. He shows concern about Agatha's training in today's comic, and at least at one point in the past he asked her for permission to leave even though his ostensible employer (Gil) was around; of course my homie called him on it. Thoughts? Tarvek (talk) 07:34, January 28, 2013 (UTC) :Or, Higgs could actually be a Heterodyne, but they disowned him because he wasn't one to pick fights. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 08:02, January 28, 2013 (UTC) :The second panel here implies Higgs is very old and attached to the House of Heterodyne in some fasion. AndyAB99 (talk) 11:44, January 28, 2013 (UTC) ::Yes, without nitpicking into possible meanings of "remember" and the fact we don't know exactly when old Igneous lived, Higgs indeed could well be very old. This would lend credence to the theory below that, while he may not quite be a Jäger, perhaps his life was extended and his physical abilities enhanced in a Jäger-like way. This, of course, doesn't exclude the possibility of him also being a von Mekkhan. Or he could be a construct. I hope he's not. Tarvek (talk) 21:00, January 28, 2013 (UTC) :::But he is NOT Carsons son and Vanamondes father, as suggested above. From this , he clearly is something special - something very special - to the Heterodyne and Der Kestle. And the "every twenty years" remark aslo implies he's been around for more than a human life time. AndyAB99 (talk) 01:11, January 29, 2013 (UTC) ::::After revisiting that page and thinking about it, Higgs must have been the Heterodyne's regular body guard. Which leads me back to my old MAD theory that he is somehow kin to Ol' Man Death. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 02:08, January 29, 2013 (UTC) :::: Good find, Andy, thanks. I don't remember that panel from when I first read the comic -- from the day of the week (Tuesday) it seems it's been inserted afterwards, so I'm not sure if I've seen it before. So Higgs definitely is not Carson's son. Tarvek (talk) 03:09, January 29, 2013 (UTC) :::: That page is definitely ''new (-ish, anyway). I've never seen it before, and I've been through the archives fairly recently, as well as keeping up with the daily pages. It does reveal rather more about Higgs than we've been able to discover so far. Ve-ery ''in-ter-esting. Lady Blanc (talk) 14:32, January 29, 2013 (UTC) :::: According to Kaja's LiveJournal, those pages were added on June 4, 2012. Quoting Kaja, "we had to add two new pages to make the double-page spreads come out right in the layout of the printed book." The other new page was inserted on the pseudo-date of . This information can also be found in the page on Double-page spreads in Girl Genius in this wiki. -- William Ansley (talk) 22:34, January 29, 2013 (UTC) I am also wondering about the hairy beast standing behind Higgs. Did it deliver him, or something. Does it belong to Higgs for some reason? Or was it assigned to him for some reason? -- Billy Catringer (talk) 08:10, January 28, 2013 (UTC) : Look closer. He's dragging that thing up by the tail. It's lying on its back with its paws in the air. Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 08:19, January 28, 2013 (UTC) ::You're right! At first, I could not even see that Higgs was dragging it by the tail. Once I noticed that he had something in his hand, I thought that Higgs was leading the thing by a rope or something. After I clipped that part of the panel out and enlarged it, I could see that it was not a rope, but some sort of tail. I guess I need to go see the optometrist about new glasses. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 08:41, January 28, 2013 (UTC) Well, to me this pretty much scotches the idea that Higgs is the secret Jager General. It's obvious that Da Boyz (or at least Dimo) recognize him, but I really doubt they'd refer to him as "Keed", even to maintain his cover, if he were. I like the theory of him being related to the Von Mekkans. If he is the presumed-dead seneschal, then he's likely a construct (too many witnesses for him to be just pretending to be dead), as note the giant beastie he's dragging up to the top of the town wall by the tail in panel three and his performance against Zola. They may even have used the jagerdraught or the battledraught to re-animate him, which would cause the hint of accent we saw when he "vas beginning to like" Zeetha. Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 08:18, January 28, 2013 (UTC) : What's the point of being a secret Jägergeneral if the Jägers know about you? Jägers like to talk, especially some of da Boyz. Argadi (talk) 09:40, January 28, 2013 (UTC) :: The Jagers would pretty much *have* to know all of their own Generals, wouldn't they? They are all soldiers too, despite the obfuscating stupidity they exhibit, and will follow orders without question. Even Da Boyz won't reveal information they are ordered to keep secret. The Secret General is only a secret to the outside world, due to his knowledge of sensitive information. Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 09:54, January 28, 2013 (UTC) ::: With Jagers like Vole, this is debatable. Sine Wave Herder (talk) 07:20, January 29, 2013 (UTC) : It should be noted that the accent doesn't belong strictly to Jaegers. According to the novel, it's an old Mechanicsburg accent, and you can see someone distinctly non-Jaeger with the accent here. The Jaegers, being from Old Mechanicsburg, obviously would have the accent, and carefully cultivated it over the years in order to keep their identity as Heterodyne monsters, and to freak people out. And, I've got the impression that accents tend to show through more in moments of high emotion, such as the girl you like being *this* close to dying. So, Higgs a Jaeger? Maybe, but it's sounding more and more unlikely. I like the theory of him being a Von Mekkan, though. He certainly has similar facial features to Carson. : Also, have you noticed that in this page, Higgs shows the widest range of emotions we have ever seen from him! Seven to be exact: casual/bored (his default), surprised, 3 different shades of grumpy, a grumpy/worried/just-trying-to-figure-out-how-to-convey-this-emotion hybrid, and some kind of hopeless/hopeful combo which is much harder to identify (and makes him look a litle bit like a monkey). HeterodyneGirl (talk) 13:26, January 28, 2013 (UTC) For some time now, Oggie has been my favorite out of da Boyz. He maintains that position with ease and panache as of today. Lady Blanc (talk) 16:23, January 28, 2013 (UTC) Actually, the stiches here indicate that he might be a construct, though those might be just scars. HeterodyneGirl (talk) 23:07, January 28, 2013 (UTC) Tarvek, why do you hope Higgs isn't a construct? It wouldn't make him less of a badass (re: Klaus), so I assume it's because that would make him a different "species" than Zeetha. If so, just remember: she did date the Yeti, so being a construct is probably not an issue. 18:16, January 29, 2013 (UTC) :A point--no one ever called him "the" Yeti, but just Yeti; that would seem to imply it's a name or nickname. I certainly never got the impression he was anything but a rather hairy guy, possibly a result of Mad Science but basically human. As for the construct issue--they're not necessarily a different species. Most are humans that died and have been reanimated with Science! More like a disability (living impaired), maybe, than changing their species. I suspect Tarvek here might just hope for a more unusual explanation for Higgs than that. Me, too. Lady Blanc (talk) 18:36, January 29, 2013 (UTC) :Oh, I'm hoping Higgs isn't a construct -- it's just a preference, but now that you ask I'm thinking where it comes from -- I think because then he would have had to have a creator of some sort, and it just doesn't fit with his personality. I don't think old Heterodynes were capable of producing anyone/ anything that isn't obviously psychopathic, so it would've had to be someone else, obviously someone very skilled. But I just don't see a madboy/ madgirl making someone so cool as a cucumber, and ultimately as reasonable, as Higgs is. Perhaps van Rijn, but his forte were clanks -- although Higgs' knowledge of van Rijn's engineering may bespeak otherwise. My best guess is that Higgs is an enhanced human protector/ friend to the Heterodynes, probably of the van Mekkhan line. Tarvek (talk) 20:25, January 29, 2013 (UTC) ::This is why I think he's both Vanamonde's father AND a construct. My hypothesis is that he was re-animated by Barry Heterodyne in secret some time after the attack on the castle, partly to serve as an additional Heterodyne protector and possibly as a way to keep an eye on Klaus. Remember that Barry came back sometime after he and Bill "officially" departed to take care of Agatha; he'd have had plenty of time to do something like this in addition to making sure Agatha was properly hidden, raised, and cared-for. By then Klaus was Large and In Charge, and having an apparently-insignificant mole inside Klaus' organization might have been a convenient way to keep an eye on goings-on in Europa while the Boys fought the "good fight" against the Other. As Seneschal, "Higgs" would have had an extensive knowledge of the castle interior (just as Karson does) as well as the entire history of the Heterodynes and the Castle itself, so it's still possible for him to "remember old Igneous", as well as being well aware of the Castle's twenty-year habitual cycle of demanding a Heterodyne heir (since no doubt it hassled Karson about the same thing, as well as Karson's father etc) even if he isn't Really 700 Years Old. Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 05:51, January 30, 2013 (UTC) :::I think that it's increasingly unlikely that he is Vanmonde's father the more I think about it. Van's mother is still alive, after all, and Higgs is kind of dating Zeetha. And I doubt the Foglios would have one of the good guys show such low morals. Anyway, Braumeister, when he talked about old Igneous and the 20-year cycle of ensuring the line, he sounded like he spoke from personal experience. Like, "Yeah, I remember when Igneaous exploded," or "Seriously? Every twenty years? It's like an echo!" Not like he remembered from the history books, or his dad talking about it or whatever. I think that he probably has the "immortal" deal, like the Jaegers, and has been working for the Heterodynes for a while. (I like the 'Heterodyne bodyguard' idea) Maybe when Bill and Barry left, he was assigned or decided on his own to go spy on Klaus; he's certainly smart enough to decide that it's a good idea. One thing to consider, though is that he doesn't seem as mindlessly devoted as most of Mechanicsburg; He looks out for the Heterodyne's interests, but he's not blindly following orders like the minions do, or going to extreme measures to ensure an heir. And, he't not phsycotic. So, where did he come from? HeterodyneGirl (talk) 17:54, January 30, 2013 (UTC) :::Braumeister, I agree that'd be roughly the only plausible scenario for Higgs to still be Van's dad, with a slight change -- his reanimation would've needed to happen soon after clinical death, to prevent information-theoretic death (remember Selnikov?). But although I think this is a fun idea to entertain, I agree with AndyAB99 and HeterodyneGirl that it is very unlikely. Tarvek (talk) 20:42, January 30, 2013 (UTC)